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It just wouldn’t feel like summer without another exciting new chapter in the ever-expanding Jurassic World franchise, and this year we have a hot new animated series titled Chaos Theory thanks to the folks at DreamWorks Animation and Netflix. The great-looking new series is set six years after the events of the previous show, Camp Cretaceous, and finds the members of “The Nublar Six” team struggling to find their footing off the islands and navigate a world filled with dinosaurs and those who want to hurt them.
“With the success of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, there was a lot of interest in a follow-up series from the folks at DreamWorks, Universal and Netflix,” says showrunner and exec producer Scott Kreamer. “My initial reaction was that we had already told the tale of the Nublar Six in a way that made us all very proud. This was before Jurassic World: Dominion had been completed, and my fellow executive producer Aaron Hammersley and I got on a big Zoom call with the folks from Universal and DreamWorks.”
The Plot Thickens
Kreamer, a five-time Emmy-nominated animation veteran whose many credits include Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Pinky Malinky and The Penguins of Madagascar series, says they were walked through the live action. “It was a new chapter in the story that I just couldn’t get out of my head,” he adds. “These kids had become such a big part of our lives that it was tougher to let them go than we had realized. Before long, Aaron, story editor Bethany Armstrong Johnson and I started brainstorming, and the show as a whole began to crystallize into what it would become.”
One of the big differences from Camp Cretaceous is that the kids are all much older in this new adventure. “Our characters are six years older now and at that uncertain age where one is trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in the world,” explains Kreamer. “They are also dealing with the lasting trauma of their near-daily fight for survival amongst the dinosaurs in Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, and now the dinosaurs seem to have followed them back to the mainland. Couple this with a tragedy befalling one of their own during the time between the two series and our heroes have an awful lot on their plates.”
Tonally, the show also has a different vibe. As Kreamer points out, “The first show was more of an action-adventure ‘kids working together to survive an island full of dinosaurs,’ while this one is a full-on thriller of ‘young adults trying to figure out who’s trying to use dinosaurs to kill them, and why, before it’s too late.’ Yes, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory still has all the awe, wonder, camaraderie and humor that Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous had, but now seen through a slightly different lens.”
Kreamer says he loves the fact that he and his team were able to continue the hero’s journeys of the original characters from the first show at a different time in their lives. “This is a rare opportunity that isn’t lost on us,” says the showrunner. “Bethany and our amazing writing staff met the challenge head-on as they stayed true to the characters set forth in Camp Cretaceous and then took them to places they hadn’t been before.”
He is also quick to praise the show’s superb lighting and cinematography. “We were able to take our time and let scenes breathe, to establish a tense, uneasy mood and tell stories of a darker tone than usually done in what is traditionally known as children’s TV animation,” says Kreamer. “I love that the team took some big creative swings. But most of all I love this crew. Across every single department — production, writers, artists, editors — each and every one of them put such time, care, thought and effort into everything they did to make something really special. We really wanted to do something new, and the team as a whole answered the call. This was an entirely group effort. I couldn’t be more grateful for, or prouder to be associated with, such an outstanding collection of people.”
The animation was produced by the team at DreamWorks Animation Television in Los Angeles and frequent collaborator CGCG in Taipei, Taiwan, who also worked on such shows as Dragons: The Nine Realms, Abominable and the Invisible City and Curses! According to the producers, about 250 people worked on the show overall. From start to finish each episode takes about 17 months to make. Shot production ends up being around six months, while just animating a single episode takes about 12 weeks.
‘It was a new chapter in the story that I just couldn’t get out of my head … These kids had become such a big part of our lives that it was tougher to let them go than we had realized.’
— Showrunner & executive producer Scott Kreamer
Visually, the team had a wildly eclectic sources of inspiration, many of which were conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s, such as The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor and All the President’s Men. “We wanted to evoke a similar uneasy vibe, putting the main characters at a disadvantage as they try to figure out what’s coming next before it’s too late,” says Kreamer. “As far as the look and feel of the show, we wanted to start with what we did in Camp Cretaceous and evolve it into something new, something darker, more sophisticated.”
Kreamer speaks fondly of the work done by art director JP Balmet and his team; the cinematic and moody approach to storyboarding and pacing by executive producer Aaron Hammersley, supervising producer Zesung Kang and the directors, board artists and editors; and the evocative lighting and imagery created by lighting/comp supervisor Eric Hawkins and his lighting team. He also commends to the more realistic, subtler animation overseen by CG supervising producer Dan Godinez, animation director Ryan Donoghue and their in-house team, as well as the animators in Taiwan at CGCG. He adds, “We also had the ambitious work that FX lead Emad Khalili and his team plussed every episode. Combine that with our stellar voice cast led by voice director Sirena Irwin, Leo Birenberg’s spectacular new score, plus the soundscape created by Rob McIntyre and D.J. Lynch at Sound Rebels, and I think the team as a whole achieved something pretty special.”
Dino-Mite Diversions
And why does Kreamer think these giant dinosaurs have won such a huge place in the hearts of young animation fans for so many years? “You know they are the closest real thing we have to mythical creatures, and in the world of the franchise we get to imagine what it would be really like to live alongside them,” he says.
When asked about the overall state of the animation business, Kreamer is brutally honest. “It’s as rough out there as I have ever seen it in the more than 30 years I have been in the industry,” he admits. “It is getting harder and harder for creators to break through with new ideas that aren’t associated with an established IP. We are so lucky to have this giant franchise which allows us to tell what is at its heart a personal, character story. I am hopeful that there is a world where creators focus on making ‘art,’ as opposed to ‘content,’ but we will have to see how things shake out.”
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory premieres on Netflix on May 24.
